Personal Narrative Writing Workshop
for BIPOC Teens

**Free for Minnesotan Youth!**
Thanks to the Minnesota State Arts Board, I am facilitating a FREE 4-week writing workshop for BIPOC teens in May (with additional drop in meetings during the summer and fall) who want to build online and in-person connections with peers as well as participate in occasional special projects and/or events. There’s an optional public sharing component and option to submit work produced in the workshop in a published anthology. Each session will have readings, generative writing prompts and time to write, discussion, and more. Let's create together! Free for all youth participants in Minnesota!

Drop-in meetings take place on Tuesday nights at 5:00-6:30 PM CT in person (South Minneapolis and St. Paul locations) + hybrid online option 

Meeting Dates: 

• May 6

• May 13

• May 20

• May 27 

• July 8 

• Sept 9 

• Dec 9

• Dec 18: Final Reading

Feel free to drop in for one or for the entire series! Please sign up or learn more by emailing info@mariannemanzler.com.

Workshop Outcomes

• Build confidence in writing and share the joy of storytelling and creating art in community

• Produce at least one piece of new written work

• Give and receive feedback about each other's work

• Compile student writing into a published anthology

• Participate in an in-person reading on December 9, 2025

Once you have registered, you will receive a confirmation email with workshop location and information within 48 hours.

About the Workshop Leader: Marianne M. Manzler is a writer, educator, and editor. Raised in Cincinnati, she is the graduate of The Ohio State University and University of Washington, where she received her MFA in Creative Writing–Prose, held the Grace Milliman Pollock Fellowship, and her thesis won UW’s Eugene Van Buren Award. There, she taught writing to youth and undergraduate students. She has also worked in the book publishing industry in both editorial and marketing departments. She manages the education program at The Loft Literary Center, where she supports her fellow storytellers and readers in reaching their artistic endeavors. She hopes to create a space where language, connection, and community can thrive. She has over ten years of experience in managing and facilitating literary arts classes and programs for youth and adults, most recently as the Director of Youth and Community Programs at Lighthouse Writer's Workshop, Educator at Prodigy Ventures, and Founding English and Humanities instructor at The CUBE High School in Denver, Colorado.

Her work can be found in Best American Essays 2022, Fourth Genre, The Seventh Wave, 5280, and elsewhere, and she has received support from Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Sundress Publications, Anderson Center, and Vermont Studio Center. Most recently, she is a 2025 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board grant and a 2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship Finalist in Literature-Prose. Within the past decade, she has served as a Fulbright scholar, AmeriCorps member, and Urban Leaders Policy Fellow. She is an Editor for The Rumpus column We Are More and a reader at Quarterly West and The Offing. She hosts the podcast series Mumu Stories about creativity, illness, and the hustle of being a writer.